Sabrent has shared a video with a sneak peek of its first Thunderbolt 5 external SSD. Thunderbolt 5 promises big speed increases over Thunderbolt 4.
How fast is Thunderbolt 5?
Thunderbolt 5 uses a USB-C connector just like Thunderbolt 4. However, not all USB-C ports support Thunderbolt. Those that do are also usually marked with a lighting symbol. Thunderbolt 5 supports up to 80 Gbps bidirectional bandwidth with a bandwidth boost of up to 120 Gbps. This means it has up to three times the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4. In addition, Thunderbolt 5 can support from a minimum of 140 W up to a whopping 240 W of power. This far exceeds the 100 W limit of its predecessor.
Thunderbolt 5 SSD
Sabrent shared the first look at its new Thunderbolt 5 external SSD via the video blog on the company’s website. The video was presented by Mike from Sabrent who said that the model shown was one of the final prototypes. He also said that there was “a lot of tweaking to do” before the product was ready for release. However, he described the initial numbers for the speed of the drive as “incredible.” In addition, the new drive is backward compatible with Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.2. Transfer speeds will be reduced to the respective limits of those interfaces of course.
Transfer speeds
During the video, Mike gave some examples of the transfer speeds that Sabrent had measured during testing of the prototype drives. Using a Thunderbolt 5 compatible laptop, the external SSDs reached read speeds of over 6000 MB/s and write speeds of over 5000 MB/s. Those speeds were measured with Crystal Disk Mark.
Sabrent also demonstrated how fast the drive was with an older Thunderbolt 4 computer. Testing with Blackmagic Design’s Disk Speed Test, the new drive achieved both read and write speeds of over 2,900 MB/s.
Compact design
The prototype external drive showcased by Sabrent was impressively small but this can cause heat buildup. Some Thunderbolt 4 external SSDs struggled to maintain high transfer speeds due to overheating. However, Mike said, “Because of our efficiency, we are seeing even better temperatures. So not only are you getting all of that high speed, but the temperatures are incredible on this as well.”
What we think
Sabrent’s new external SSD looks very exciting. The transfer speeds quoted are approaching internal drive speeds but with a portable external drive. Such a drive would be great for video editing, especially if you need to move between computers or even operating systems. Of course, you will need a computer with a Thunderbolt 5 port to take full advantage of the drive’s capabilities. However, the backward compatibility means that you can still use the new SSD with older interfaces in the meantime, although with reduced speeds.
Availability
Sabrent hasn’t given any indication of pricing or availability of its new Thunderbolt 5 external SSD yet.
